


Touch

by KitiaraM



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-10
Updated: 2013-07-10
Packaged: 2017-12-18 07:49:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/877381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KitiaraM/pseuds/KitiaraM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe the races aren't so different after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Touch

It was odd, how quickly she'd adapted to having aliens around. On her crew, even. She hadn't dealt with other races much before this little jaunt, and initially she had been a bit nervous. After all they'd actually fought the turians, so working with Nihilus had been a bit awkward at first. But he had seemed dedicated to his job, and he'd died doing it. That earned him a lot of points in her book.

 

Now...

 

_A turian, a quarian and a krogan walk into a starship--_ She grinned to herself.

 

At least they seemed to get along. She'd had some concern about that at first; they all seemed so different.

 

Tali seemed the most easy-going of the lot. Not a lot was known about the quarians, even what they looked like. She was obviously intelligent, and so far showed the kind of moral traits that Shepard aspired to. That revelation about the geth disturbed her, though. Reminded her of that old folk tale, what was it? Oh yes, Frankenstein. But Tali—it was almost eery how quickly the quarian felt like a trusted friend… a sister, even.

 

Wrex was blunt and prone to seeing only one solution to problems, which came down to _shoot them til they go away_. Well, that actually worked a lot of the time. She had a feeling though, that the big krogan wasn't as mercenary as he claimed. Or as unintelligent. There was a brain under that hard carapace, as evidenced by his thoughts on his kin that had no thought for the future of his race. She'd come away from their brief conversation with a definite feeling of frustrated despair. His race was doomed; no wonder so many of them resorted to mindless violence.

 

Garrus concerned her, with his single-minded attitude. But that could be a good thing, too, having that kind of dedication. His distaste for working by the rules didn't bother her too much; she had a similar tendency herself. But if he thought that they would risk lives to get the job done, he had another think coming. She was too young to really feel any lingering resentment over the First Contact war, but the thought of it was still there. It had been a tragic mistake, on both sides, borne of arrogance and misplaced superiority. Perhaps turians were more like humans than either thought.

 

To be honest, what she'd seen so far only reinforced her first impressions: basic emotions seemed to be constant no matter the race. There was fear and anger and need, loyalty and honor and friendship.

 

That was enough.

 

\-----

 

“Commander.”

 

Shepard looked up as she dumped the refuse of her meal. “Garrus. How’s it going?”

 

“Good, I’d say. I only have a few more tests to run on the guns, see how much improvement the latest fine-tuning gave us.”

 

She nodded, leaning casually against the wall. She had a feeling the turian had something more on his mind. “That’s good. You’ve done an excellent job on them.” She waited.

 

She wasn’t disappointed. He adopted a relaxed posture himself. "You know, I've wanted to thank you for some time now, for taking a chance on me, letting me join your crew. Not many humans would have invited a turian aboard."

 

“You’ve more than proved yourself, Garrus. I’m proud to have you here.” She nodded firmly, before smiling. “Besides, who else would not only go along with Joker’s quips but even top them?”

 

Bright eyes stared back at her from shadowed sockets, as his mouth gaped in a turian grin. She smiled back, before it struck her that she wouldn’t even have recognized the expression, not too long ago. Humans certainly were adaptable, she mused. She didn’t even think of Garrus, Wrex, and Tali as ‘alien’ anymore: they were simply her crew. And friends.

 

"Commander?"

 

She blinked, realizing she'd been staring silently for far too long. "Uh, sorry Garrus. I was just thinking."

 

"Seemed serious." He didn't ask, although the comment was invitation enough. He was awfully good at that, she realized.

 

“Not really. Well, maybe.” She tried to explain. "I was just thinking, how, well... normal it seems to have you, and Tali and Wrex, aboard. I don't even think of any of you as turian or krogan or quarian anymore. You're just, well… Garrus." She studied him. “Sometimes it strikes me, how many things have changed in so short a time. Fifty years ago, you or Wrex wouldn’t have looked out of place in some B movie, and now,” she smirked, “we’re in an action movie.” She shook her head slowly. “It just amazes me how quickly the outré becomes accepted.” He snorted gently and she amended, “mostly accepted.” She cocked her head. “Humans at least have always been suspicious of the different or strange. And you gotta admit, you are different. I mean, it looks like you wear your skeleton on the outside,” she reached a hand towards his head without thinking, before snatching it back quickly. “I’m sorry, that was rude of me.”

 

He chuckled. “I don’t mind. Feel free.” He tilted his head down and she lifted a hand to brush along the cheekbone, tentatively at first, then with more assurance. It felt... not quite like bone. Sort of, but somehow less hard to the touch, more resilient. And it felt--alive. She hadn't expected that.

 

She grinned like a kid with unabashed delight. Emboldened as he stayed completely still, she stroked further along the side of his head, absorbed in her exploration. Suddenly he jerked away. Surprised, she yanked her hand back. Before she could ask, he gave her a shame-faced grin.

 

“Sorry, Commander. That, um, tickled.”

 

She tucked her hands behind her back, feeling her face flush a little. “No, I’m sorry, Garrus. That was awfully presumptuous of me. I was—“

 

“You were curious,” he cut off her attempted apology and shrugged. “Nothing wrong with that. Although, I must admit to some curiosity of my own.” He ducked his head, almost shyly.

 

She was so bemused by the idea of Garrus being shy, that she almost missed the implied request. “Oh! Sure, I mean, after you were so gracious.” She smirked and moved in a step. He raised a tentative hand and she closed her eyes. So lightly she thought at first it was no more than the normal airflow, he touched her cheek, flowed over her jaw and chin, grazed her eyes. She couldn’t help a twitch at that, her lashes brushing his fingertips. He withdrew and she opened them to wink at him. “Well?”

 

“Ah, well, that was, um, interesting. The texture wasn’t quite what I was expecting. It, ah…”

 

She chuckled at his floundering. “I assume my skin seems almost grossly flexible, comparatively.”

 

He lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. “There are some who are prejudiced, certainly.” His mandibles gaped in his familiar grin. “I’m happy to report that humans do not, in fact, ooze.”

 

She laughed. “Oh, but we do!” The look on his face made her laugh harder. “Just, not all over, and only at certain times. Like—ah, never mind.” She fought to keep her face from turning red. “I, uh, think I should get back to CIC.” She nodded, still unable to quite wipe the smile from her face, and took her leave.

 

****

 

He watched her walk away, with that familiar, confident, almost swaggering stride, and hoped she hadn’t sensed the lie.

 

Her touch hadn’t tickled.

 

It had been a long time since anyone had touched him, even another turian. He hadn’t realized how much he missed the touch of another, however slight. He definitely hadn’t expected the thrill that ran through him as her fingertips touched, explored, caressed—

 

He broke that thought off quickly. Shepard was his Commander, and a human. Why would he even begin to think—agh! He needed some shore leave. In the meantime, the guns wouldn’t calibrate themselves. He shook off extraneous thoughts and went to go bury himself in work.


End file.
